Vegetables and Sodas Are Equally Bad for Teeth

Jan 26, 2009

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Do you like vegetables? Do you eat them on a regular basis? Do you think they are beneficial to your health? In fact, by far not always. Cooked vegetables may contribute to caries formation, warns the study conducted at the University of Dundee, Scotland. The results were published in European Journal of Prosthodontics and Restorative Dentistry.

The scientists experimented with simple vegetable stew. The researchers found that fried eggplant, squash and green belly pepper in vegetable stew had increased content of acid that harms the teeth. Acidity level of this vegetable stew was comparable to the one of sodas known as the strongest teeth destroyers. It doesn’t mean all vegetables are harmful for our teeth. Moreover, the scientists encourage us to cook tooth-friendly vegetable dishes.

Unlike frying, simmering does not increase the acidity level in vegetables.

The experiments also show that cooking method doesn’t change the acidity of tomatoes and onion. Both fried and simmered red bell peppers have high acidity level. According to Graham Chadwick, the author of Dental Erosion, who led the study, dentists may use the findings for giving more effective consultations.

2 COMMENTS

Incredible! I don’t believe that vegetables are worst for teeth than milk, sugar, refined flour, fruits, etc. Please, give me a table that classifies all food by their level of “bad for teeth”. If it’s because the acidity, you must know that for example, the level of acidity is:

Fish: from +6 to +10 Cereals: from +1 to +12 Meat: from +6 to +12 Diary products: from +1 to +34(for Parmesan) Fruits: from -21(grape) to -1 VEGETABLES: from -14 (espinach) to -0

where positive values (+) are acid and negative values (-) are basic or alkaline.

How do you explain, then, how bad are vegetables for teeth if they have a alkaline factor?

I’m not sure what kind of scale you’ve used to measure the above levels of acidity, so I can’t really translate it properly. But on the pH scale, where 0-6.9 is acidic, 7 is neutral, and 7.1-14 is basic, the lack of acidity doesn’t necessarily mean that something is safe. Yes, a low pH represents a strong acid, which would certainly be harmful; but a high pH, a strong base, NOT acidic at all, is also more than capable of causing severe burns should you come in contact with it. All alkalis are basic, which means that a concentrated solution could be quite caustic as well. This “alkaline factor” would doubtless prove as detrimental to your teeth as your skin. Still, it depends on the vegetable. This study seems to have used mostly peppers, which I think would be harder on your teeth anyway – I mean, look at the dishes that feature peppers the most. They tend to be a bit spicier, yes?

Umm…I don’t know the veracity of this article, but your argument against it could use a little refining as well. If my explanation didn’t make sense, you might try consulting Wikipedia, or a reliable scientific website. Hope this helped :]